"Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering..."Colossians 3:12In continuing our study of Colossians 3 we’re looking at the things that we have to put on as followers of Jesus Christ. We’ve seen that humility is essential and that there is a direct connection between humility and prayer in the life of the believer. The next thing we have to put on is meekness. The Bible says that the meek will inherit the earth, but what is meekness? When we study the bible we see that the meek people are the ones that depend on God to do His work. They’re the opposite of the self driven or self made man.

The meek man accepts God’s work in his life as just and good even when he doesn’t understand. He recognizes that when the enemies attack, God is permitting that attack. He knows that God uses attacks from the enemies so that he can be purified and made complete in Christ. The meek person is the one that recognizes that God is still in control and therefore, is able to rest in Him.

The first time that the word meek appears in the Bible is in Numbers 12 when Moses is being attacked by his own brother and sister. They’re rebelling against Moses because he has married an Ethiopian woman, but the real cause of their complaint is that they want to have the same authority that he has. They don’t like the way he’s doing things. They’re tired of having to submit to their brother Moses. Instead of trying to argue with them or defend his position, Moses simply trusts in God and allows God to do His work. Numbers 12:3 says, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.”[1]Knowing that God is at work, the meek person allows the Holy Spirit to work in his life. He’s guided and directed by the Spirit rather than the flesh. The meek person knows that he or she will inherit the earth in God’s time and waits patiently. Due to the patience produced by this meekness, there is a gentleness that is produced in the life of the meek. As you can see, now we’re getting into the really good stuff because as we put these things on, we’re seeing the fruit of the Spirit being produced in our lives. (Galatians 5:22-23).